With over 25 years of experience in visual effects, Nathalie Girard has contributed to projects at renowned studios such as Rhythm & Hues, Industrial Light & Magic, Rodeo FX, and Cinesite. Her impressive filmography features titles including War of the Worlds, Warcraft, Rocketman, and Red One.
What is your background ?
I started as a CG generalist, but found my passion towards 2D when I started to learn how to operate a Flame. After understanding the potential that compositing was providing to finalising images, I really found my true voice for VFX. I have been in the VFX industry for over 28 years and I still have the same passion as my first day.
How did you and Cinesite got involved on this show ?
Cinesite came onto the project pretty early during prep. The production team was looking for a vendor that could handle both large-scale invisible environment work and some pretty intense horror-driven effects work. That mix of subtle world building and graphic creature work is something we’ve done a lot of over the years, so it felt like a really good fit for us creatively.
How was the collaboration with VFX Supervisor Russell Bowen?
Russell was great to work with because he had a very clear vision of what needed to feel practical and grounded. Even in the bigger horror moments, the goal was always to make the audience believe the events were really happening in-camera.
He was very collaborative throughout the process and gave us the freedom to explore ideas while still keeping everything tied to the tone of the film. A lot of the work was about restraint — especially on the invisible VFX side — and Russell was very focused on making sure nothing pulled the audience out of the story. We were able to pull in ideas to tie the visual work to the story point in each scene.
What are the sequences made by Cinesite?
We worked on a wide variety of sequences across the film, from invisible environment work through to full creature and body horror effects. That included turning practical locations in Spain into present period Cairo, building the dust storm chase, the decaying interiors inside the Cannon house, and several of the scorpion and creature interaction scenes. Creating a momentum to a heavy dust/sand storm through the streets of Cairo, to a creepy crawly Emperor Black Scorpion that attacks one of the actresses. Enhancing the rotting and decay of Katie’s room was a great challenge. On set they did not have the time to make the room as nasty as the director wanted, so we came in with a very efficient way to make the room as nasty as possible without compromising the budget. The creative outcome was really on spot.
In total we delivered over 200 shots. It was a really fun mix because one day we’d be doing subtle matte painting extensions, and the next we’d be figuring out how to make a scorpion burst convincingly through someone’s throat.
How did you approach turning Spain into a believable period Cairo through invisible VFX?
To transform Spain into period Cairo, we utilized 2.5D digital matte painting techniques. This involved creating detailed extensions of the environment, including the Nile and mosque minarets, and seamlessly integrating them into the live-action shots. Our goal was to ensure that these enhancements felt like a natural part of the scene, maintaining the film’s immersive quality.
What were the main challenges in extending the practical locations with matte paintings, skyline work, and architectural details like the Nile and minarets?
The main challenges included ensuring that our matte paintings matched the lighting and perspective of the live-action footage. We also needed to maintain architectural accuracy to reflect the historical context of Cairo. Coordinating with the cinematography team was essential to achieve a cohesive look, especially when blending practical and digital elements.
How did you build the Cairo dust storm so it felt both cinematic and physically believable as the chase escalated?
Charlie Canon, having discovered his daughter missing from the garden, runs after her, chasing after the mysterious sorcerer figure who appears to have carried her off into the Cairo streets. A dust storm blows in, gradually growing in intensity to illustrate the rising power of the Mummy, obscuring his path and hiding the sorcerer as she runs away with Katie.
This chase sequence was also filmed in Spain for Cairo; without a wind machine, the town did not permit any kind of fans to blow up dust. All was accomplished in Post with the combination of 2D stock and shot footage and the talent of our FX Lead artist.
Although the densely populated location meant that use of the machines needed to be limited. Sand was added as FX simulations which could be carefully choreographed to increase in thickness and intensity as Charlie gets closer to his daughter. The FX team created numerous reusable sand elements for the compositors to apply; this was an efficient workflow which worked well with the production’s budget. 2D elements could be mixed with the simulations to build the storm’s intensity shot by shot. This approach meant that shots could be turned around quickly and the sand asset dropped in. Sky replacements with 2.5D digital matte painting environment extensions were also added, with minarets and buildings which were architecturally correct for Cairo.
For the decaying house interiors, how did lidar scanning and digital reconstruction help streamline the invisible environment work?
As Katie removes her bandages and releases the demon spirit of the Mummy inside the Cannon house, the rooms begin to decay in her presence. Cinesite handled the addition of mould, rot and damage to the walls using a combination of crafted 2D rotten textures reprojected onto each wall. The team was able to use a lidar scan from the set location to recreate the entire room digitally. This technical approach simplified the process of delivering multiple shots, making it more efficient for the compositing team.
How did your FX and compositing teams collaborate to create reusable sand, dust, and debris systems efficiently across multiple sequences?
Our FX and compositing teams worked closely to develop an efficient workflow for creating reusable sand, dust, and debris elements. We established a comprehensive FX sand library that allowed compositors to easily access and integrate various sand and dust assets across different sequences. We defined 5 main cameras in CG to run out the different fx sand simulation. This allows the compositors to be able to use the most accurate camera fx renders to their shot. A variation of speed, density, behaviors where applied to the sand particles allowing the comp team to enhance the specific moment in time during the final battle scene between Katie and her father.
One key aspect of our approach was the creation of a hero cache for dust blowing in through the windows. This cache enabled us to quickly render dust elements for different camera angles, ensuring consistency and efficiency during the compositing process. We generated multiple types of sand, including dust-like particles and debris-heavy elements, which featured textured bandage fragments. This diversity in our assets allowed us to tailor the look and feel of the sand effects to match the scene’s requirements.
Utilizing a multi-camera setup, we captured different angles and perspectives of the dust elements, giving compositors the flexibility to choreograph the intensity of the dust according to the scene’s tempo. This approach not only enhanced the visual storytelling but also streamlined our workflow, allowing for quicker turnaround times.
Additionally, we complemented our CG sand effects with practical SFX elements. By integrating these practical components, we were able to build up the complexity of each shot, creating a more immersive and layered visual experience. The collaboration between our teams was essential in ensuring that the sandstorm felt dynamic and believable as it followed Katie throughout the house.
How did you design the scarab beetle to feel realistic yet unsettling enough for the jump scare sequence?
The challenge with the beetle was finding the balance between realism and discomfort. We didn’t want it to feel like a fantasy creature — it needed to move and behave like a real insect — but at the same time we pushed certain details slightly further to make it unsettling on screen. A lot of that came down to the animation and timing. Small things like how quickly it stopped moving, the leg movement, or the way it reacted to light made a huge difference. We also spent quite a bit of time on the surface texture and shell detail so that close-up shots held up properly.
What was the key to matching the CG beetle’s performance so precisely with the young actress’s timing and reactions?
That sequence relied heavily on getting the eyelines and timing right. On set we used practical references and very specific timing cues so the actress had something believable to react to. From there, animation became a really collaborative process between the animators, editorial, and compositing teams. Even tiny adjustments of a few frames completely changed how believable the interaction felt. Those kinds of shots are always about subtlety more than big animation.
Cinesite handled some extremely graphic body horror in the film, how did you balance realism with performance integration in sequences like the scorpion scenes?
Those scenes worked best when the effects felt physically connected to the actor’s performance. We always tried to ground everything in something practical first, whether that was prosthetics, lighting reference, or physical interaction on set. Many hours of references research was accomplish to really understand how a scorpion attacks, acts during a fight and targets it’s preys. They have very distinct moves and behavior, we incorporated those into very specific moments during the throat shots. The CG work was there to extend and enhance what was already happening rather than replace it entirely. We also had to be careful not to push the horror so far that it became stylized or distracting. The more believable the effect felt, the more uncomfortable it became for the audience.
What made the scorpion ingestion and vomiting sequence particularly complex from a VFX perspective?
The complexity stemmed from the need to create a believable interaction between the actress and the scorpion. We had to design both the ingestion and the vomiting effects, ensuring that they looked realistic while maintaining the horror elements. This involved multiple iterations and testing to find the right balance of practical and digital effects.
The throat-bursting scorpion sequence is incredibly disturbing, how did you technically pull off such a complex invisible creature interaction with live action?
This sequence required a multi-faceted approach. We created CG versions of the scorpion and used advanced compositing techniques to integrate it with the live-action footage. The animators worked closely with the VFX team to ensure that the creature’s interaction with the actress appeared fluid and realistic, leveraging both 2D and 3D elements for maximum impact.
What’s your best memories on this film ?
Many very fond and great moments were shared internally with the team and with our client Russ and his production team. It really comes down to collaboration, devotion to making a project successful and team work. The main best moments were in dailies in our theatre and hearing the reaction of the artists going… yearkkkkkkkk or ohhhhhh my god it’s disgusting.
How long have you worked on this film?
I worked on The Mummy for approximately 10 months, from pre-production through to the final delivery of visual effects.
What are the four movies that gave you the passion for cinema ?
I guess I have a lot that I could list, but the ones that affected the way I saw and understood VFX were Star Wars Episode IV – Indiana Jones – E.T. I think they are the ones that pulled me into this stimulating industry.
A big thanks for your time.
WANT TO KNOW MORE?
Cinesite: Dedicated page about Lee Cronin’s The Mummy on Cinesite website.
© Vincent Frei – The Art of VFX – 2026
